David K. Stevenson, MD, 2016 St. Geme Awardee

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David Kendall Stevenson M.D., has been chosen to receive the 2016 Joseph W. St. Geme, Jr. Leadership Award by the Federation of Pediatric Organizations (FOPO). The award will be presented to Dr. Stevenson on April 30, 2016, at the opening session of the Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting in Baltimore, MD.

The Joseph W. St. Geme, Jr. Leadership Award was created in honor of Dr. St. Geme to recognize a pediatrician who is a role model for others to emulate as a clinician, an educator, and/or an investigator. Recipients of this award have had a record of broad and sustained contributions to pediatrics that have had or will have a major impact on child health. Most importantly, the award recognizes those individuals who have “created a future” within the field.

Dr. Stevenson is the Harold K. Faber Professor of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine’s Senior Associate Dean for Maternal and Child Health and Co-Director of the Child Health Research Institute and Principal Investigator of the March of Dimes Premature Research Center at Stanford .

For the past 37 years, Dr. Stevenson has been at the forefront of research, professional education, and clinical care in neonatology. His experience includes 37 years of continuous NIH funding, and leadership for the Stanford site of the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development's Neonatal Research Network and Spectrum, the Stanford Center for Clinical and Translational Education and Research. Dr. Stevenson's studies of neonatal jaundice have produced new technologies and standards of care for treatment of this common neonatal disorder. His work has led to improved outcomes for countless infants and expectant mothers.

Certified in both General Pediatrics and Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine, Dr. Stevenson has served actively on many ABP committees since 1997 including roles as chair of the Long Range Planning Committee, the Neonatal-Perinatal Subboard, and the Task Force on Subspecialty Clinical Training and Certification. From 2004-2009, he helped lead the ABP as a member of the Board of Directors. He remains a member of the Maintenance of Certification Committee as well as the Strategic Planning Committee.

As an advocate for health, he has received many awards and honors, including the Virginia Apgar Award, the highest award in Perinatal Pediatrics, in 2006. In 2011, he received the Maureen Andrew Mentor Award from the Society of Pediatric Research, and the Jonas Salk Award for Leadership in Prematurity Prevention from the March of Dimes Foundation. He also received the first American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Award for Excellence in Pediatric Research. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine (now called the National Academy of Medicine) in 2012.

A graduate of Stanford University and the University of Washington School of Medicine, he completed his pediatric residency at the University of Washington, then completed a fellowship at Stanford in neonatal-perinatal medicine.

Subsequently, he was appointed to the faculty at Stanford University School of Medicine, becoming Professor of Pediatrics, Chief of Neonatology, Vice Dean and Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, and now Senior Associate Dean for Maternal & Child Health and Co-Director of Stanford’s Child Health Research Institute in a career that has spanned so far 37 years. During that time, he has conducted seminal research on neonatal jaundice and heme oxygenase biology that has changed practice in neonatal intensive care units and has set the stage for future approaches to the management of newborn jaundice. His work has led to new technologies, more than 600 publications, including peer-reviewed original research and review articles, book chapters and books.

He also has been a mentor and teacher for his many students, residents and fellows over the years, and for which he was recognized by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Society for Pediatric Research and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The American Board of Pediatrics salutes and congratulates Dr. David K. Stevenson.

FOPO is composed of the American Board of Pediatrics, American Academy of Pediatrics, Academic Pediatric Association, American Pediatric Society, Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs, Association of Pediatric Program Directors, and Society for Pediatric Research.